


A Little Something About Grace

by takemebacktokansas



Category: Adventures in Odyssey
Genre: 1990s, Angst with a Happy Ending, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Language, Light Angst, Sporadic Updates, Teen Pregnancy, and concerning the circumstances i believe it's fair, and then i will post, but i will probably finish this, i did legal research for this, i promise it's literally only the first chapter where there's any language at all, i simply will write something and then reach a point where i feel like i have finished a chapter, it may be completely finished in a few days, it may be next june, like this will not be scheduled, lolololol as if i know what 'light angst' means
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takemebacktokansas/pseuds/takemebacktokansas
Summary: Donna Barclay knows the Bible. She knows everything in it, left and right, up and down, side to side, front and back, and every other direction she can imagine. She knows what it says.She reads the book of Romans one day, and she comes across one of the most famous verses in the Bible that stops her cold, that makes it hard to breathe. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."It must be true, right? It must be true that they are all saved by grace, that all of them have messed up, right?So why does she feel like everyone has forgotten that and stares at her in constant judgment, waiting anxiously to belittle her for what has happened, for the sin she regrets most? Why does it feel like grace is but a fleeting idea? Why does it feel like there is no grace at all?
Relationships: Donna Barclay & George Barclay, Donna Barclay & Jimmy Barclay, Donna Barclay & Mary Barclay, Donna Barclay/Jack Davis, Jimmy Barclay & Jack Davis
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	A Little Something About Grace

**Author's Note:**

> I had always been having reservations about posting this fic, simply because of the entire premise, but I don't know…today, it just felt like no one would be remotely okay with this kind of fic in the world, and it was honestly a little upsetting to feel. I understand it's a difficult premise and not one that most people enjoy, but in my experience, I have seen and heard about so many teenage girls being mistreated by Christians when something like this happens, and I was never in a position to do anything about it, so I feel like writing about it is the only way to fix it, you know?
> 
> I've also had this idea ever since I listened to that episode with Donna's rebellious streak when her dad became a preacher. I knew Odyssey wouldn't write her rebelliousness as going so far that she starts sleeping with guys, but if this were not aimed at children, I really believe they would have gone this route. And while we got something with "Pamela Has a Problem," it wasn't on the same plane at all.
> 
> Just a warning for those who thought my baby fever post was tmi: there will be more graphic discussion about periods and pregnancy/menstrual cycles in this fic. I personally do not find anything wrong with it, and most of that discussion will be in reference to medical discussions and all.
> 
> The rating is T because of the first chapter. If you don't like bad language, um, sorry. To me, this situation is one of those that necessitates that kind of language to be real, but beyond this chapter, there will either be no language at all or the language that will appear will be brief mild language. Aside from that, there are absolutely zero sex or makeout scenes, very few – if any – kiss scenes (even between Mary and George, as much as it might pain me), and only brief discussion about sex, mostly between Donna and her parents, but it absolutely will NOT be explicit.

_ “Shit. _ Shit, shit, shit, shit,  _ shit.” _ She stared at the pregnancy stick shaking in her hands, the very same pregnancy stick that looked like it was laughing at her.  _ “Fuck.” _

She hadn’t  _ actually _ expected it to be positive.

Donna leaned back, pressing her back to the toilet and chewed on her lip. It could just be a false positive, right? That happened to people, right? She should sneak into her mom’s bathroom in a little bit and grab another one, drink some water, and try again. Just to be sure.

Even as she thought it, she knew that this pregnancy stick was accurate. She had bought it from the drugstore with her own money, after suspiciously asking the clerk which ones were supposed to be more reliable than others, even as she knew that everyone in this town knew everyone and news would travel fast. At any rate, her period hadn’t come for two months, she was peeing way more than usual, and she felt sick to her stomach, although the last one could be attributed to the fact that she felt so guilty for sleeping with Jack.

She glanced at the pregnancy stick again, at the little pink plus sign, and huffed, tears stinging her eyes. “Fuck, I’m just sixteen.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and she pushed her hands into her hair. “This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.” Her hands felt clammy, so she took one hand out of her hair and wiped it on her knee.  _ “Fuck!” _

Donna wished she could only say it was a one-time thing, but she couldn’t. She had an idea of when this happened, but she had never thought it would come to this, she never thought this would happen.

She grabbed her tampon wrapper and shoved the pregnancy stick into it. Jimmy would never touch it, even if he had to dig through the trash for whatever disgusting reason he might need to, and therefore, he would never find out about it, and maybe she would never have to tell her family. She could hide it for a while, right? It wouldn’t be a big deal or anything. She would just have to learn to control her cravings.

She washed her hands, splashed water onto her face, and headed downstairs. “I have a study date with Jack,” she said to her parents. Mom looked up from feeding little Stewart and wished her luck. Dad absent-mindedly lifted his hand in a wave goodbye.

The front door closed behind her, and she pressed her back to it. She glanced up to the sky, tears springing into her eyes again.  _ “Fuck,” _ she said again before wiping her eyes and heading for Jack’s.

***

“Donna, if you want to stay for dinner, it’ll be pizza tonight.”

She tried to force a smile, even as her heart pounded in her throat. “Thanks, Mrs. Davis, but my mom’s making stew tonight and will probably need my help.”

“That’s fine by me.” Mrs. Davis smiled at them. “Listen, you two, I’m going to be upstairs in the study, working on some grant proposals, so if you need anything, just holler.”

Jack smiled tightly. “Thanks, Mom. We’ll be okay. It’s just an economics project we’ve gotta do.”

_ Yeah, one with perfect timing. _

Mrs. Davis headed upstairs, and once Jack was sure that she was out of earshot, he twisted on the couch. “Okay, Donna, what’s wrong? You’ve been pale this entire time, and you look…scared.”

Donna bit down on her lip. “Really?”

He nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong?” His voice was so soft, so gentle, and Donna couldn’t help but cry.

And of course he wrapped her in his arms, of course he held her and combed his fingers through her hair, of course he told her everything would be okay, and of course he wiped her tears away when she pulled away.

“Jack, I’m pregnant.” She thought that, if she would ever have to tell him that, it would be a joyous occasion several, several years down the road, when they were older and financially secure. And they would be married, and they would be happy about this, maybe even expectant, and he would spin her in a circle and kiss her and cry tears of joy with her.

At least, that’s how she always pictured this happening.

It took a few seconds for the words to register in Jack’s mind, and when they did, he took a sharp breath like he’d been sucker punched. “Pregnant?”

“I– I took a pregnancy test today. I missed my period twice now, and I’ve been really nauseous a lot lately, and I even threw up at school a few times.” She tucked her hair behind both ears. “It– it could just be a false positive, and I might need to take another one, but…but I don’t think so, Jack.”

He gulped and leaned back against the couch. He scratched at the hair growing on his chin, staring at the mantle without actually seeing it. “I’m so sorry, Donna.”

She sniffed and picked at the dirt underneath her fingernails. “I mean, it– it takes two, I guess.” She released a shaky breath. “Look, I– I should be getting home. Um, we can talk to the teacher about finding new partners for the project and–”

Jack shook himself out of his reverie. “Wait, what? Why are you leaving? You just got here, like, ten minutes ago.” He leaned forward and reached for her hands. “Look, I’m not going to make you stay, and I know there’s…a lot here, but I’m not gonna back out on our relationship, and I’m not going to just leave you to deal with all of this by yourself. If that’s what you want, then tell me, but I mean…this is also my responsibility.”

“And your parents would kill you if they found out about this and that you did nothing.”

Jack tried to laugh. “Yep, that too. I mean…I’m not going to say I’m particularly overjoyed or excited at the prospect of being a dad yet, but tell me what I can do to help, and I’ll do it.” He pulled one hand away and rubbed the back of his neck. “But, um, if you’re thinking of getting an abortion, I– I can’t help you with that. I just, I can’t.”

Donna nodded. “No, yeah, I…I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, and um, I’ve only told you about this, but…there is absolutely no way that my parents won’t find out about it. Knowing my family, Jimmy’s gonna probably go digging in the trash and knock the pregnancy stick loose, and just…yeah, you know. They won’t let me, and…I don’t think I want that, either. Besides,” she laughed wetly, blinking back tears, “legally, they have to tell my parents if I want an abortion, and that just…wouldn’t go over well.”

“Oh, you were paying attention in civics class.” Jack squeezed Donna’s hands. “I cannot apologize enough for this, but I’m here. And I’m not here out of obligation to you or the baby, I’m here because I do love you. That doesn’t change because of this.”

“I mean, I’ll tell my parents soon, either tonight or tomorrow, and…I’ll probably need an OBGYN appointment. If you want to come to the ultrasound, let me know.”

“I will. But I do think we should make a little headway on our economics project. I know our headspace is definitely not great right now, but a 50 is better than a 0, and our parents will kill us even more if we get a zero.”

***

When George was lost on what to do in his sermon, he liked to bite his nails. But ever since Mary caught him biting his nails down to the quick, to the point that it hurt to take care of Stewart, Mary had not allowed him to actually do any biting, so George was now resigned to sticking his thumbnail between his teeth and not biting it hard enough to actually pull off the nail.

“George?”

He poked his head around the corner. “Yeah, honey?”

“Can you go around the house and gather all the trash? I need to get dinner going, and it’s trash day tomorrow.” She pointed to the empty bag on the kitchen counter. “Go around, pick up our trash and the kids’ trash and whatever Stewart has done throughout the day.”

He kissed her head. “Sure thing, honey. Uh, where should I start, considering our youngest one has pretty much destroyed the entire house?”

She smiled tightly at him. “Why don’t you start with the kitchen, bub? Move around from there?”

“Fair enough.”

It was back-breaking labor that would typically be more suited for Jimmy, but Jimmy had found a job at Subway, and his shift ran until seven tonight, and the last time Jimmy had done the trash, his hand had accidentally touched one of Donna’s tampons and they almost had to take him to counseling.

Once he moved out of the kitchen and the living room and upstairs, though, it was less painful. His last stop was Jimmy and Donna’s bathroom, and he stooped to pick up the trash can by the toilet, and as he moved it, something that had been expertly hidden slipped out of its packaging and turned to face him with a little pink plus sign.

**Author's Note:**

> Like it, love it, hate it? Leave a comment below or go to my tumblr, @ takemebackto-kansas, and tell me what you think!


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